


The Artist's Burden

by FayeValentine



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Adorable Nini, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Writing & Publishing, Artists, Canon - Manga, Cute, Cutesy, Hopefully Rom-Com, M/M, Manager to Lover, Manager/Editor Chanyeol, Manga & Anime, Meet-Cute, Office Enemies to Lovers, Player Sehun, Sweet, Writers, manga terminology, puppy, webtoons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-03 10:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17282627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayeValentine/pseuds/FayeValentine
Summary: Popular mangaka collaborators, Seoh and KJ have never met in person despite making a hit manga and webtoon series together for little more than a year. Their shared editor/manager Chanyeol plans to change that...





	The Artist's Burden

**Author's Note:**

> Massively Huge thanks to the Mods of this fest! I'm horrible with stable inspiration and deadlines but you guys were awesome :3
> 
> And to the prompter, this was a mix up of my manga nerdiness coming back and spotty inspiration. I hope you don't mind that I tweaked the prompt or that I still have more to add to this, for now I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

**The Artist’s Burden**

Popular mangaka collaborators, Seoh and KJ have never met in person despite making a hit manga/webtoon series together for more than a year. Their shared editor/manager Chanyeol plans to change that...

 

 

_Never Gonna Happen!_

_Presented by: Namu-Sae Publishing_  
_Written/drawn by: Seoh_  
_Colored/inked by: KJ_

* * *

 

 

 

Jongin sighed loudly, putting all his pent up frustration in the irritated noise. As soon as he took a seat, he slumped over the booth table and buried his head in his folded arms. From where he was seated across him, Chanyeol raised a brow, but didn’t say anything as he took off his jacket and made himself comfortable in his seat.

  
“I know that sound. Is this the beginning of another ‘lazy co-worker’ rant?” An amused barista by the name of Baekhyun asked, sleek black apron tied around his waist, a long sleeved cotton tee pushed up to his elbows and a tray of Jongin and Chanyeol’s usual order balanced on one hand.

  
Jongin only grunted, shuffling minutely to further hide in the comfort of his arms. He was wearing one of his favorite sweat-shirts, something extra large and lined with a soft white fleece that he probably wouldn’t mind making into a blanket right in this coffee shop.

  
“You know us so well,” Chanyeol answered with a soft grin on his face. Since Jongin wasn’t going to surface any time soon, he took the ice cold green tea and iced caramel tooth ache Jongin liked to drink in the middle of winter. It was a little hard to get used to Jongin’s habit of drinking nothing but cold drinks in the winter and hot drinks in the summer, but eventually Chanyeol grew used to it and he occasionally had something out of season with Jongin. However, their snacks matched the season of baking and consisted of buttery croissants and an off menu chocolate dipping sauce the owner of the coffee shop, Jin, liked to make just for Jongin.

  
Once he was done delivering their order, Baekhyun huffed and slipped into the booth next to Jongin. “If I didn’t know you two, our best customers, then I obviously would be failing at my job as coffee maker and social butterfly.” Jongin felt the slight dip in the space next to him, but he didn’t bother moving.

 

Instead, he let Baekhyun maneuver him until he was slumped at his side and resting his chin on the petite barista’s shoulder. A hand was soothingly rubbing up and down his back and occasionally patting him. He felt a little like an overgrown dog, but Jongin decided to let his pride slide in favor of accepting the physical comfort.

 

As usual, Baekhyun and Chanyeol fell into a light chatter while Jongin dozed and allowed himself to relax a bit. He had been up for a full twenty-four hours and his body was insanely tired, but his mind wouldn’t let him fall asleep. Usually if he had to stay up, he would play some hype music his old roommate used to listen to when clubbing. Work had kept him up and he was ready to snap from all the stress. This week hadn’t been as bad as previous ones before, but Jongin had been sent the sketch drafts from the mangaka he was working with a mere 48 hours before the deadline, and he was just about ready to scream in overworked frustration.

  
_Never Gonna Happen!_ Was a popular yaoi manga that told the story of a regular college guy who suddenly finds himself engaged to a demon prince. Jongin was the proud inker of this popular series. The mangaka would sketch/draw in the panels and the characters with pencil and paper while the scripts and storylines were sent to Jongin via his manager Chanyeol. The final lines were inked over by Jongin, and the background was edited and drawn in almost completely by him as well.

 

But since their first volume had gotten so popular, the manga company decided that their series needed to be made into a webtoon. Usually, this would not bother Jongin at all, but the sketches for the next chapter of the manga had been sent to him two days ago and the sketches were so light and messy that Jongin couldn’t scan them at all. This meant that he had to ink over the mangaka’s sketches, scan them, then re-sketch them on his computer and add in color, text, and any clothing textures the mangaka demanded be added via sticky note on his messy sketches. Just to spite him, sometimes Jongin ignored the sticky notes attached to the sketches sent to him and instead did whatever his sleep deprived brain told him to do.

  
And as if that wasn’t the only set of challenges handed to him, Jongin’s mangaka partner was apparently a horrible habitual procrastinator. Every sketch sent to him since the manga had reached the third volume had been sent in two days before the deadline. After the recent deadline rush, _Never Gonna Happen!_ has begun volume five. and considering each complete manga volume contained six chapters and sometimes bonus sketches he had to color over, he was tired and overworked.

  
This of course, bothered Jongin immensely since he was a person who liked getting things done early so that he wouldn’t have to worry about them later, but his mangaka partner…he was starting to wear Jongin thin and they hadn’t even met yet!

  
“—barely made deadline this time. I think I need to have a talk with Mr. Seoh.” Chanyeol finished saying, mouth drawn in a troubled little frown when Jongin managed to open his eyes, feeling like he had taken a nap without having actually fallen asleep.

  
Baekhyun hummed in agreement. “You should have had a talk with him sooner. From what I hear, this guy is a selfish partner.”

  
Immediately, Jongin made an indignant noise of agreement. “ _Exactly_! Because of Mr. Seoh, my nap schedule has eroded my sleep schedule and I get stuck unable to sleep at all at three o’clock in the morning! And his sketches! They’re _so messy_   I have to clean them up, but its so hard when I can barely see the pencil or there are fifty different erase marks and I can’t even tell the difference between his mistakes and his final pencil lines! _Ugh_ , if I ever see him—”

  
”Aww Nini, seeing you so fired up over this makes me feel bad, but at the same time it’s so cute I wanna squish you in a hug and never let go,” Baekhyun interrupted with a slight coo in his voice, eyes practically full of stars as he watched Jongin pout. He was trying to be scary, but he couldn’t pull off anything close to the word when his eyes were droopy with sleep and he had an unruly little lock of hair sticking up at the crown of his head.

  
“I second that,” Chanyeol added, chuckling to himself when Jongin looked at him with a betrayed expression. Try as he might, Jongin was a human puppy and there was nothing he could do to change that.

  
Pouting now, Jongin muttered more complaints about Seoh, the mangaka behind the series he was practically dragging himself through hell to complete every deadline.

  
Sensing his fatigue and irritation, Chanyeol softened and broke Jongin’s still warm croissant into bite sized pieces, taking one and dipping it into Jin’s heavenly chocolate sauce before feeding Jongin from across the table. Without thinking about it, Jongin let his manager feed him, so used to it at this point that he didn’t even notice the stares on them anymore.

  
“…Well, I think my break was over like ten minutes ago, so I’ll see you guys on the next deadline survival celebration.” Baekhyun said suddenly, running his hand through Jongin’s hair and ruffling it as a familiar goodbye. Jongin was also used to this, so he didn’t bother trying to muster the energy to slap Baekhyun’s hands away from his already messy brown locks.

  
“Later Byun,” Chanyeol answered, getting waved off by Baekhyun. The coffee shop was always a little slower on late weekday afternoons, but after a deadline rush, Jongin usually slept until noon the next day and was only able to get up when Chanyeol promised to treat him at Jin’s place.

  
“Chan,” Jongin called, expression intensely serious even as he played a bit with his croissant and stuffed some in his mouth like he was chomping on a big bite.

  
“Yes?” Chanyeol replied, watching Jongin chew and then move on to sip some of his overly sweet caramel drink. The cold was seeping through the thin plastic cup and it made the tips of Jongin’s fingertips pink, but he shuffled his oversized fleece sleeves down and used his sweater paws to hold his drink. It was insanely cute, especially when Jongin took his time answering, sweet brown eyes slowly blinking behind his thin golden wire frame glasses.

  
“…I don’t think I have enough energy to make the walk home,” Jongin finally admitted, cheeks turning a light coral pink and matching his sheepish expression.

  
Chanyeol couldn’t hold back his laugh, even if Jongin had been the one to insist that they walk to the coffee café in the first place.

  
“Don’t worry, I can call a cab, just don’t make me carry you home.”

  
Grinning and laughing a little, Jongin immediately agreed.

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
Chanyeol is definitely not his favorite person. Sehun thought with a huff, crossing his arms and wondering how he was going to shortcut his usual scolding lecture about deadlines and working faster and harder in the next drawing rush. It wasn’t his fault his company gave him three month quarters for his new chapters, that wasn’t enough time to recharge his creative mind! If _Never Gonna Happen!_ was to keep its steamy yaoi appeal, Sehun needed time to party and mingle with the lonely hotties of the world.  
It was all honestly in the name of literature!

 

"-can't keep doing this, it's _completely_ irresponsible. _Furthermore_ , I think-"

  
  
Although, admittedly his last fling lasted the entire writing quarter and took up most of his time, but he still managed to remember his deadline and he still made his submission on time this week, so what if his work looked like he sketched it half asleep after a hard night out drinking?

  
It would make complete sense, he _was_ tipsy and he was tired when he sketched the latest chapter before he folded them lazily in a letter envelope and handed them over to Chanyeol the next time he remembered to show up to one of his publishing company’s meetings. Wait…now that he thought about it, he’d actually never been to one of the meetings. But slipping his work onto Chanyeol’s desk personally had to count for _something_.

  
“-you’re not even listening, are you?” Chanyeol asked, ending his stern rant. He looked a little frustrated, his jaw was pulled tight and he was probably grinding his teeth a little. His perfectly tailored suit was even rumpled a little and his usually crisp blue undershirt was unbuttoned, tie somehow not around today. It was a little distracting.

  
Sehun would have to use this for material in his newest chapter. Maybe the demon shows up at Jimin’s workplace, gets mistaken for a model, and then is forced to wear something a little like Chanyeol’s getup right now. _‘Oooh, gotta remember that one,’_ Sehun hummed to himself, a salacious grin making its way onto his face as he spun in his comfy office chair and took out a puppy notepad and began his daily addiction of writing prompts on sticky notes.

  
“ _Oh_ _Sehun_ ,” Chanyeol called out, looking unamused when Sehun held up a finger just to take another thirty seconds to finish up writing his note out.

  
“Okay, you were saying something?” Sehun prompted once he was done, slumping in his chair and spinning back around to face Chanyeol. The flat screen behind his manager showed him his reflection and Sehun frowned when he noticed that he’d have to get his roots done soon. That’d take all day in a salon, oh the things he did to achieve the perfect platinum blonde.

  
Oh wait, Chanyeol was blocking his view again.

  
“You’re so _difficult_ ,” Chanyeol sighed. He took off his black metal framed glasses and shoved them in his suit pocket. His eyebrows were furrowed and the corners of his mouth were turned down at the ends.

  
“Yes I am, its such and achievement isn’t it?” Sehun quipped with a cheeky grin on his lips. He was constantly scolded growing up because he was a bit of a rowdy child. It came to no surprise to anyone that he smoothly transitioned from a problem child to a problematic adult. At this point it was a lifestyle and Sehun liked stressing Chanyeol out a little. The man was his manager at the publishing firm but he acted like an uptight lawyer.

  
He needed a little ruffle of the feathers now and then, just to keep him young of course.

  
“An achievement is reached or given when someone does exceptionally well at keeping their goals. Being a pain in the ass isn’t an achievement.” Chanyeol stated. Sehun was about to open his mouth and reply, but his manager cut him off with a sharp glance.

  
“Anyway, since you were not paying any attention to me at all, I’d like to summarize my very well made points by saying that you need to sketch the panels for the next chapter much more neatly. You also need to get your work in at least two weeks before the deadline, or the company will shorten your timeline and only give you a month to get the next chapter out.”

  
At that Sehun coughed in surprise, “No way! No one can get a chapter of _Never Gonna Happen!_ out in a _month_! Is everyone in the company insane?”

  
Chanyeol shook his head, exasperation and disappointment dripping from his voice. “If you bothered showing up to any of the meetings we had, which are mandatory by the way, then you’d know that the company owners want us to streamline and speed up all our stories. We’re only in high demand because we were able to transition from paper to webtoon, but there are other sites offering the same services as us and they have faster updates.”

  
“B-but Never Gonna Happen is the hottest webtoon and manhwa of the year, two years in a row!” Sehun sputtered, growing a little close to worried now. His story was at the very top, everyone was reading it from school girls to ahjummas, it was better than a K-drama and he was the reason it was so great. The company couldn’t shake him down like this!

  
“Yes, that’s a true achievement, but the company queen is demanding that we get higher views and more coin.” Chanyeol sighed, crossing his arms and sitting on the spine of the sofa behind him. Sehun’s home was a modern open plan and his office was basically a desk area behind his couch. A huge bay window with seating was right next to the desk and it was Sehun’s favorite place to nap and read. That warm spot by the window was probably the reason he got side tracked so easily.

  
“Coin?” Sehun asked, wondering when their company got so money oriented. In fact, when did the his company’s owners change??

  
Chanyeol looked defeated, not even surprised with how little Sehun payed attention to him every time he made a personal visit to brief the little miscreant on what he missed at their company meetings. He’s just glad that between the artists of _Never Gonna Happen!_ Jongin was a dream to take care of. The inker was like a puppy, he just needed to be fed and cuddled and he got his work done.

  
“Sehun, our webtoon site is not free, you have realized that your checks have seen an increase in number right?” When Sehun nodded, albeit hesitantly, Chanyeol sighed again. “Well, members who join our site and download the app are considered premium users and get a daily coin allowance the more frequently they log on to read, those who don’t sign up and use our website have to exchange money for coins. A hundred coins is equal to about one US dollar and they can read up to five webtoon chapters for that amount. Of course, _Never Gonna Happen!_ is our bestseller and it costs a bit more for each chapter, but our users save most of their free coins for the newest releases.”

  
“Huh,” Sehun answered dumbly, slumping further back into his office chair, the perfectly cushioned backrest catching his neck like a pillow.

  
All that information had his mind was blown. What happened while he was drawing and gathering ‘inspiration’ for his manhwa? When he was growing up, he used to visit the library everyday because he wanted to keep up with the newest and free releases of manga in the monthly magazines they imported from Japan. Then when he reached middle school and high school, he used his allowance to visit the bookstore where he tried to sneakily read as many manga volumes as he could before the owner caught him and made him buy one or leave.

  
He even learned Japanese so he didn’t have to wait for translations of his favorite stories. Would the younger generation brought up by the internet ever understand the struggle of waiting for printed releases!!? It was blasphemy to the old school manga fan!

  
“Sehun, you should come to the next meeting, I think it’s time you meet everyone and actually pay attention to what’s going on in the company. I think the CEO wants to announce a new project that will directly affect Never Gonna Happen. And you need to meet your partner, KJ." Chanyeol added, somehow forgetting that Sehun and Jongin don't know each other. "He's the one carrying the manga by now...” Chanyeol muttered, his last few statements being ignored by Sehun. As usual, he had selective hearing.

  
At the mention of the work office, Chanyeol caught Sehun’s attention. “…When exactly is this meeting gonna take place?” He asked, tone innocent.

  
Chanyeol, having been his manager for three years now, immediately shook his head. “No way, this is your job! How the hell do you not have time for your _own_ _job_!?”

  
“Well since you asked,” Sehun began, straightening up before spinning in his office chair to face his desk. On the top shelf of the overhead desk was his little red leather planner book. Grabbing it, Sehun flipped through the next three months. Every night had been marked out and filled in with WONDERLAND written in bold font. Oh wait, one day was filled in correctly. He had a salon appointment. When did he manage to schedule that?

  
“Oh Sehun, if you aren’t at the next meeting, I’ll take your favorite pencil and chew on the eraser.” Chanyeol threatened, his words making Sehun’s blood run cold. He knew his manager knew which pencil was his favorite even if he preferred using fifty different ones for special effects. When he wasn’t lazy or chasing a good time in the name of ‘ _inspiration_ ,’ he was actually a talented artist.

  
“Y-you can’t because I don’t have a favorite pencil!” Sehun finally replied, trying to play it cool even if his hand was itching to snatch up the empty strawberry jam jar he dumped all his art supplies in. it was sitting innocently at the corner of his desk and Sehun knew that Chanyeol was not bluffing.

  
His assumptions were confirmed when Chanyeol leaned over and with a long arm, easily snatched the right pencil from the empty jar just a second before Sehun would have blocked him.

  
“No, Chanyeol!!” Sehun whined, only for his manager to smirk at him.

  
“You’re coming to the meeting, eight o’clock sharp on Monday or you’ll never see this pencil whole and perfect again,” Then just to taunt him, Chanyeol weaved the pencil through his fingers with one hand, long fingers easily twirling the pencil under and over his fingers. Sehun got a hand cramp the last time he tried to copy that move and Chanyeol had laughed at him before doing the same hand trick with two pencils.

  
Unfortunately, the pencil he currently had in his grip was a bright hot pink one. The paint on it would change between hot pink and a pastel pink when it warmed up, and while that was cool Sehun could buy any other color changing pencil in every color of the rainbow if he really wanted to. What actually made this pencil so special to him was the eraser, it was carved to look like a little yellow chick. Its beak was crooked and its tail feathers were probably bigger than they needed to be, but Sehun loved that pencil dearly because it had been given to him as a gift from the cutest boy in the world.

  
His first boyfriend.

  
Granted, they were in elementary school at the time, but Sehun really liked the boy who gave it to him. He was so small and cute and even if the boy had only given the pencil to him so he wouldn’t get in trouble for biting him like a puppy, it was still his prized possession.

  
Which is exactly why Sehun waited until Chanyeol was at peak gloat before he smacked his manager’s hand, causing him to drop the pencil. It hit the wooden floors with a little clack and it only took a few milliseconds of silence before Chanyeol and Sehun were diving for it at the same time.

  
Of course, Sehun won the wrestling match, he just didn’t manage to save the pencil from Chanyeol because the giant oaf sat on it and managed to leave before Sehun could tackle him for it.

  
Oh Sehun hated meetings and Mondays.

  
Unfortunately, if he wanted that pencil back, then he’d have to show up to work. _Ugh_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“How many muffins have you consumed by now?” Baekhyun asked in amazement, watching Jongdae snatch the last of the muffins on the first tray from the Namu-Sae Publishing company’s break room. His cheeks were bulged with as many mini-muffins he could stuff in there. The silly chipmunk look clashed with his suit and neatly combed hair, but he shook his head at Baekhyun and swallowed before grinning at him kittenishly.

 

“I’m an opportunist, free food will never go to waste around me.” He replied, looking proud of his scavenging. He looked close to attacking the second tray of muffins so Baekhyun grabbed it from him and made sure to smack his hands away when he whined and tried to reach for more.

 

“Hey, I’m entitled to my fair share of muffins, a caterer like you should be thanking me for the business I bring you!” Jongdae whined, only to huff when Baekhyun easily dodged his reach again and began heading to the meeting room. The café he worked in was not only popular with Chanyeol and Jongin, the offices in the busy business district in this part of town loved the place because they delivered anywhere within the buildings- on time. Granted, the delivery service in this area was well put together, but when Jin’s café opened, it was hell setting up their own routes into the business skyscrapers and alleys. Aside from fighting off other delivery boys from time to time, case in point Min Yoongi, Baekhyun also had to learn to practically develop a sixth sense of direction because none of their customers actually specified where in their damn skyscraper they wanted lunch or coffee delivered to.

 

So understandably, Baekhyun’s struggles qualified him for a better title than ‘caterer’ and it was with a sublime demonstration of skill that he balanced the muffin tray on one hand and hooked Jongdae under his arm in a tight headlock just for that tasteless jab. He squawked like a chicken and Baekhyun would have led Jongdae down the hall in a pseudo frog march, but the elevator bell dinged and immediately Jongdae was dropped to protect Baekhyun’s image. It wouldn’t be good for other employees at the publishing company see him rough up Jongdae like a thug.

 

Luckily, it seemed his sense of timing was perfect because the doors were barely sliding open when Jongdae fell on his butt and dramatically pretended to cough for air.

 

“Baekhyun!” Jongin cheered from inside the elevator, his eyes lighting up at the sight of his friend. Behind him was Chanyeol and another employee with him, someone Baekhyun didn’t see often but he recognized him as one of the higher ups in Jongin’s company. Do Kyung-Something or other if he remembered correctly.

 

“Good morning!!” Baekhyun greeted back, accepting the hug that Jongin gave him after he side stepped Jongdae. Somehow the glutton had noticed his boss and his dramatics were cut short when he stood and bowed, calling a greeting to him and giving Chanyeol a familiar salute.

 

“I’m so glad we’re ordering from you guys again, your shop has the best food,” Jongin gushed, letting go of Baekhyun to poke through the muffin tray. His soft brown hair fell in soft waves and peaks over his forehead and when combined with his oversized knitted t-neck sweater, he looked soft and sleep ruffled. He wasn’t much of a morning person, but he was a sweetheart so even though he looked sleepy, his voice was bright and enthusiastic as he chatted idly with Baekhyun over which muffins and desserts he liked second to the croissants and chocolate sauce Jin made for him.

 

The clearing of someone’s throat stopped Jongin from rambling and brought Baekhyun’s attention to the Do-Kyung guy. He looked a little impatient and too harried for so early in the morning, but Jongin didn’t seem to take his attitude too personally as he stepped away from Baekhyun and freed up space in the hallway for him to pass.

 

As he walked by, Chanyeol followed, but he paused to guide Jongin forward down the hallway with a gentle hand resting on the small of his back. Baekhyun fell in line after them, giving Jongdae a warning look when he tried sneaking a hand from the side of the tray to snatch a muffin. With a nervous laugh and a feinted ruffle of the hair, Jongdae finally backed up enough for Baekhyun to deliver his tray safely to the center of the room. He had a few other things he needed to grab from the scooter the café provided him with for transportation, so with one last smile sent Jongin’s way, he left the meeting room.

 

Chanyeol and Jongin were there earlier than usual, the meeting didn’t start until eight and they had roughly fifteen minutes until then so Jongin took the extra time to find a seat right next to the windows in the office. It always got uncomfortably warm in those spots the higher the sun rose, but Jongin loved those seats the best. It probably wasn’t a good idea to sit somewhere he knew would make him comfortably warm and sleepy during his company meetings, but Chanyeol always briefed him on any important information he might have missed if he happened to doze off. That usually didn’t happen until the end of the three month quarters he worked with, which was around the time he skipped sleep in order to get Seoh’s sloppy work cleaned up and colored.

 

But lately, Jongin had always noticed Chanyeol went out of his way to do things to make him comfortable. It was unbelievably kind and went beyond Chanyeol’s job description as his editor. so it was no surprise really that Jongin picked up on the fact that when Chanyeol sat in the sunny seat next to him, he would begin uncomfortably shifting in his seat and sweat would bead along his hairline as the meetings advanced.

 

So this week, Jongin made sure to set six alarms instead of his usual four to make sure he woke up a little more early so that he could pick the corner seat that was in front of a window and next to a shady spot just for Chanyeol.

 

It seemed his efforts were appreciated because Chanyeol sent Jongin a thankful grin as he took the shady corner seat. Their conference room wasn’t too big, just enough space for the large rectangular table to seat sixteen people at once.

 

At the front of the room, Do Kyungsoo was already setting up his laptop and connecting it to the overhead projector. The big projection screen in the middle of the room was already pulled down. The company used this room a lot, as it was their only conference space in the building. The Namu-Sae publishing company was small, but it was expanding under the ever careful watch of its partnered owners, Park Yoojin and Do Kyungsoo.

 

Kyungsoo handled the writing and editing section of the company, while Yoojin headed the marketing side. Both of them were great leaders and they took turns heading each monthly meeting.

 

People began filing into the conference room, Baekhyun making quick in and out runs as he delivered carrier trays of coffee and muffins. Chanyeol seemed a little distracted because he kept checking his watch and looking at the door every time it sounded like someone was walking down the hallway. Eventually the room had filled up, the door was shut and the slide show Kyungsoo prepared was readied on screen.

 

“Alright, before we begin, I’d like to take this moment to make a few announcements.” Kyungsoo began, adjusting his glasses and making brief eye contact with everyone in the room before settling on Jongin and Chanyeol.

 

“Never Gonna Happen has once again achieved the highest reads this month and the new update had been very well received.” At this news, everyone in the room clapped politely and Jongin ducked a little into his sweater. He wasn’t used to having this much attention on him.

 

“Now, because this series has been doing well, my partner and I have decided that now would be a good time to give the fans a connection to the creators of their favorite series.” Kyungsoo paused to change the slide with a click of his remote before he continued. “To do this, we have arranged for a couple of meet-and-greets as well as an interview with both the main creators for this work.”

 

Jongin paused mid yawn to squawk in surprise. “ _What_!?”

 

Kyungsoo looked a little annoyed to be interrupted, but Chanyeol managed to clear his throat and soothingly pat Jongin on the head to calm him down a bit.

 

“Sir, may I ask why a meet up is necessary? Never Gonna Happen has been our top story since its release, surely our fans understand that the authors wish to remain out of the public eye?”

 

Kyungsoo tilted his head and clicked to another slide, this one displaying a statistics chart that Jongin was too distracted to decipher. “In the past, we simply didn’t need to. But our number of physical manga sales has dropped and while this means our website has been doing better as an effect, I want to push our numbers higher. Never Gonna Happen is still doing well, but it had done better in terms of sales. It’s best we invest in some publicity for this now before our story falls behind a competitor.”

 

“Is there really no other way we can promote this?” Jongin spoke up, chewing his bottom lip and wondering if taking off his glasses for the rest of this meeting will save him from another stress headache. He just recovered from his deadline drawing binge! Being forced to interact with strangers in public didn’t sound like a good way for him to relax. Surely Jongin could do anything else to promote more physical sells of the manga he worked on…

 

“Well, I’m open to any suggestion as long as it boosts sales.” Kyungsoo answered calmly, clasping his hands behind his back and regarding the room.

 

Sera, one of the nice ladies who worked in the office somewhere, raised her hand and gave her idea. “We could always do a giveaway, or release a special edition of the manga that’s exclusive to physical sales.”

 

Kyungsoo hummed and he seemed to like the idea. When he was thinking hard, he always looked a little mean, but he was nothing but polite when speaking to his employees. His lack of expression was probably what made Jongin uncomfortable around him at first, before he realized his boss was just as awkward in expressing himself as he was.

 

“If you and Seoh and up for it, this is something we could consider doing, Jongin-ssi.”

 

Jongin immediately nodded, his mind already thinking of all the colors and clothing the characters could be put in for a special edition book. Maybe he could even ask Seoh to draw the characters with their clothing styles or they could even draw the character roles reversed? That might be something the fans were interested in.

 

“Sir, we could also think about releasing special digital pieces that we can sell on the app for our readers to use as wallpapers.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded at that, “Good, we can have our app coders look into a way to protect and allow certain permissions for that. It can even be included in our next app update, maybe with bonus coins to buy a sample wallpaper.”

 

Jongin liked some of the ideas that brewed at these company meetings, he felt comfortable with his boss and his employees and if he didn’t, then he’d still have Chanyeol at his side. His manager and script editor was the best at reading him.

 

“If we push for a special edition book and bonus app content, will this be enough to maybe postpone a meeting between the fans and the manga creators?” Chanyeol asked, seeming to read Jongin’s mind once again. He sent his manager a grateful look, which was returned with a squeeze of his hand- wait, when did they start holding hands?

 

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows drew into the middle a little, but he seemed to be considering Chanyeol’s proposal. “Right now our readers have been satisfied with the new chapter release, so they may possibly need a little time for their excitement to die down.”

 

“Right,” Chanyeol agreed. “A fan meet and greet is long over due, as well as a book signing, but I think we’re all forgetting that Seoh and Jongin haven’t even met in person before.”

 

He brought up a good point, but it seemed to make Kyungsoo’s face twist into an expression of definite irritation.

 

“Oh Sehun,” He muttered before sending a glare Chanyeol’s way. “Is there a reason that he has had completely abysimal attendance to each meeting?”

 

Chanyeol sighed. “I’ve informed him ahead of time that we had meetings, I constantly send him precise dates and times and yet he claims that he’s busy chasing inspiration every time we hold meetings.”

 

“Oh? So he is somehow too busy for company meetings while his partner and editor have _never_ missed a single one?”

 

“…That does put his habits into a bad light, however I have given him an ultimatum and since he’s failed to meet that requirement, I propose we shorten his deadline.”

 

That made Jongin gasp in horror. Seoh’s shortened deadline would be felt by him, and he needed the time between double all-nighters to charge up his energy and restore his sleep schedule. So a panicked Jongin tugged on Chanyeol’s sleeve.

 

“Hyung! There’s no way we can survive with a shortened deadline! There’s so much work to be done on both the raw scans of the printed and digital versions of the manga. The next update will be included in the new volume and I have to make a cover for it! Plus it has to be in full color along with the new chapters, and the app is getting the music option, I-I won’t have any time to—”

 

“Jongin, everything will be fine. Yes, this will make your work a little more frantic, but we are ten chapters ahead of the readers and the manga volumes are printed and released once the online chapters have caught up.” Chanyeol’s deep voice was soothing, as well as the gentle hands stroking Jongin’s hair and calming him down. “You’ll have all the time and more to touch up on the unreleased chapters we have in stock. The deadline will only apply to Seoh, he never checks his own works online so he doesn’t know that we’re actually ahead of production.”

 

Once Jongin had calmed some and nodded at Chanyeol, his manager smiled tenderly and patted his head once more. “I just want to get him to work a little more quickly.”

 

Clearing his throat, Kyungsoo drew all the attention back to him. “That sounds like a solid plan, however Sehun is a heathen and I doubt he cares enough about his deadlines to work any faster than he has in the past couple of months. A simple deadline shortening won’t be enough to sway him, he knows that his manga is the best in our company and that we have a following loyal enough to wait for his releases.”

 

Chanyeol’s grin went from tender to sharp in a flash. “Of course he wouldn’t listen any _other_ time. But I happen to have a little _something_ of his that I’m taking hostage until he takes his work and his deadline a bit more seriously.”

 

Kyungsoo raised a brow at him but Chanyeol didn’t divulge any more information on the subject and soon the meeting was back in order for another minute before the door slammed open, causing boss Do Kyungsoo to choke on his coffee in surprise and spit it over the front of his shirt.

 

"Is this the meeting for Never Gonna Happen?" Sehun asked, hair perfectly blown out into a coif, platinum blonde roots gleaming and testing Chanyeol's patience.

 

"How _great_ of Seoh to ask as if he didn't recognize his own work on the screen behind me." Kyungsoo said with an irritated growl that was more melodic and velvety than should be legally allowed. pointed to a Sehun and then pointed to the seat next to him, which so happened to be one of the dreaded window seats next to Jongin.

 

 Sehun took one look at Jongin, who was flushing at the sudden attention (and recent scare!) from such a handsome man. Of course, the heat from his cheeks dissipated completely when Sehun titled his head in confusion while staring at Jongin, before he looked at Kyungsoo and asked questioningly.

 

"What's a puppy doing here?"

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's more I planned for this, but I couldn't finish in time because December was like overworked hell for me ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ


End file.
